


Ink

by Alifredson



Series: Together Again [1]
Category: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
Genre: Dear John Letter fix-it, F/M, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Suicide, References to Depression, Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-07
Updated: 2019-10-07
Packaged: 2020-11-26 15:55:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20932820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alifredson/pseuds/Alifredson
Summary: Alcohol and emotions left raw after the death of a Ranger lead Tommy and Kim to bed, which reveals far deeper revelations than Tommy had expected.





	Ink

**Author's Note:**

> Be forewarned- there is discussion of suicide attempts and depression in this story. If that could trigger you, I beg you not to read this- it's not worth your health. 
> 
> This was inspired by the fact that I like to maliciously hurt characters in my hands, that I refuse to accept any PR universe where Tommy and Kim do not ultimately end up finding there way back to each other, that I was bitter when this happened when I was seven and I'm still bitter twenty-ish years later, and lastly, by JDF's many tattoos. 
> 
> This, assuming I make time to write, will be the first of several unconnected one-shots where Tommy and Kim find their way back to each other.

Kim had had a lot of hard days in her life. There had been more than a few hard days when her parents were still married and fought every night. There then had been days that had been even harder when, during her freshman year of high school, her father had moved out and then her parents had divorced. It had been a series of difficult and awkward days when just four months after her father left, her new stepfather moved in.

There had been a lot of difficult days as a ranger too… days where they didn’t stop the bad guys soon enough and an Angel Grove denizen was hurt or even killed, days when the other Rangers were trapped and it was up to Kim to free them and she had been terrified, days when her family was in danger from Rita’s schemes, hopeless days when they were defeated again and again and again by the green ranger and the cute new guy at school seemed so cold and uninterested…

But today had been _so much worse_. Today, Kim had stood in a rainy cemetery while her best friend had been lowered into the ground.

There had been a lot of Rangers there- some that she had served with, some that she knew had come after she had left, and a few who had acknowledged her that she assumed were from later teams altogether. But even standing in between Jason and Zach, their arms pressed tight against hers, their hands holding hers. She felt alone. She felt alone even when Tommy, standing just behind her, stepped up and wrapped his arms around her waist as her shoulders shook with silent sobs. Alone even when Aisha had held her in the longest, tightest hug Kim had ever experienced. Alone, even when every ranger in attendance had surrounded her, Jason, Zach, and Billy after the ceremony, cocooning them in love, in commiseration, in the promise of support.

Eventually, the crowd of Rangers had thinned until it was just Kim, Jason, Tommy, Aisha, and Rocky. Zach and Billy had been bundled off toward the luncheon escorted by other teammates and color mates. But Kim had been almost unresponsive in her refusal to move. Jason wouldn’t leave Kim and Rocky wasn’t leaving a fellow red behind, especially since the other Rangers had decided that Rocky was responsible for making sure Jason got away from the cemetery safely. Aisha and Tommy had also been concerned about Kim. She hadn’t said a thing the entire day, from the time she showed up at the viewing to now.

They were all standing there, watching Kim’s tears mix with the raindrops that were soaking her through since she had refused the protection of an umbrella, while she watched the cemetery crew lower Trini’s casket into the hole of earth where it would rest and be buried.

Tommy decided that it was time to take charge. He turned to Jason first, Rocky just behind his predecessor. “Bro, I’ll make sure she gets back to her hotel. You need to go with Rocky. Get into some dry clothes. Eat something. I’m sure Kim will be more willing to talk when she’s had a chance to process.”

“I can’t leave her, Tom. Not after everything she’s just gone through. She needs help more than I need food.”

“She probably needs the space. Look Jase, you know how upset Kim’s going to be if you aren’t taking care of yourself. She would want you to look out for yourself. Trini would too. ‘Sha and I, we’ll get her back to the hotel. We’ll make sure she’s okay. And I’ll make her promise to meet up with everyone tomorrow.”

Jason looked unsure, like he wanted to trust Tommy, but wasn’t sure if he should. “I don’t know, Tommy. After everything that happened with you two…”

“She’s still my best friend, Jase. Even though we haven’t talked in so long. You know, about two years ago I got Kim’s email from Trini- she wouldn’t give me Kim’s phone number. I wrote to her… told her how I missed her, how I was going to school for geology, even gave her my phone number. She never responded, but I still sent her an email every few weeks, still do. I never knew if she got them or if she read them. But then, a few days ago I got this call from a number I didn’t know. It was Kim, calling to tell me about the accident. I know… I know that she only called you, me, Zach, and Billy herself. She didn’t ask me to call anyone, like I know she asked you and Billy to do. I don’t know if that means anything, but it at least means that she read the emails, or at least the first one. That she cares enough that she wanted me to hear it from her instead of from you or Billy or someone else. Maybe, it would be best if I took care of her right now. Maybe it will make her more comfortable and we can get back to being friends.” Jason still looked unsure. “Look, at least trust that I won’t let anything bad happen to her. She’s going to be okay. But we need to get her out of this cemetery, and it will be much easier to get her to go if we don’t have such a crowd. Please, go take care of yourself and you can make sure she is okay yourself tomorrow at brunch. I promise, I’ll get her there.”

Jason, exhausted physically and emotionally, knowing Tommy would still do anything for Kimberly, finally gave in. Rocky took Jason by the elbow and steered him toward the rental they had come in, leaving just Tommy and Aisha with Kim. “Let me try first?” Aisha asked. Tommy nodded.

Aisha went to Kim, standing at her side, arm around her shoulders and whispered to her for several minutes. Kim never seemed to respond. Finally, Aisha turned to look over her shoulder at Tommy, who took that as his cue to join the girls. He came up to the other side of Kim, wrapping his arm around her too, his hand wrapping around the right side of her waist. Her dress was so wet that the water immediately started to soak the sleeve of his suit jacket and dress shirt where his arm rested against her back. The cemetery employees had uncovered the pile of dirt and a backhoe was beginning to drop dirt onto the rose covered casket. It was past time to remove Kim from this.

“Kimberly. Come on. Let’s go back to the hotel. You need to put on something dry.” Kim shook her head. It was more response then most of them had gotten all day. She still stared toward the gravesite.

Tommy took a deep breath before he moved to stand directly in front of her, his chest a foot away from her face, each hand finding a place on her sides. “You can’t stay out her, Kim. It won’t bring Trini back and it certainly won’t do anything good for you. Please, Kim. It’s time to go. Aisha and I won’t leave without you. This storm is only supposed to get worse. You wouldn’t want Aisha or I to get sick, would you?”

This plea was what finally seemed to get through to Kimberly. She nodded and let Aisha turn her toward the last car left- Tommy’s, and they finally left.

***

Tommy and Kim were staying at the same hotel while Aisha’s was staying at the same hotel as most of the other Rangers, just down the street. Tommy drove them all to his and Kim’s hotel. Both girls had sat in the back seat while Tommy drove and when they arrived, Tommy had opened Kim’s door for her. When she had tried to get out, her legs had collapsed under her and Tommy had caught her and carried her into the hotel and up to the room Aisha directed him to. He had left the girls to their own devices- Aisha had promised to get her into something warm and to let him know when Rocky or Adam came to pick her up to bring her back to their own hotel. So, now no longer in charge of seeing to Kim, Tommy went to his own room, two floors above and was finally able to change into clean, dry clothes.

***

Three hours later found Tommy sitting at the hotel bar, staring into the depths of his glass of bourbon. He was only just beginning to come to terms with what the loss of Trini meant to him. While Kim had been his best friend and Jason was still his best bro, Trini had been the person he went to when he needed an equalizing force. It had been Trini he called and admitted that he made a mistake not going after Kim after the breakup. It had been Trini he had called for reassurance when he made the absolutely mental decision to start a joint Masters/PhD program in archeology and paleontology. It had been Trini he had called in a panic when his friend Hailey had figured out that he had been a power ranger. It had been to Trini that he admitted that he only felt bad about his breakup with Kat because he _didn’t_ feel like it was a loss for him at all. It had been Trini- and only Trini- to whom he had admitted that he still loved Kim, that he would take her back without a second’s hesitation, when he had begged for a way to contact his former girlfriend. Trini had been a rock, a fount of wisdom, and a quasi-therapist for all of them. Tommy was going to miss her desperately.

Out of the corner of his eye, Tommy saw someone slight, swimming in an oversized sweatshirt with leggings, coming out of the elevator. It was Kim and, head bowed, she was heading toward the bar as well. Tommy got her attention and she made her way over to sit next to him with only a split second of hesitation.

“Are you feeling okay?” She asked. Tommy smiled, realizing that she was worried because of his assertion earlier that he and Aisha would get sick from the rain.

“Yeah. You?”

She shrugged and ordered a glass of whiskey when the bartender came over. Tommy told him to put her drinks on his tab. Kim gave him a slight smile and a ‘thank you’ before she got quiet again. He sat with her in silence, knowing that when she was ready to talk, she would.

“I was the last one to talk to her,” Kim said quietly after several minutes. “She was going somewhere with a couple of friends; they had just picked her up. I had called her the night before and she couldn’t talk, so she called me while they were driving. She was excited because I had just told her that I am moving back to California next month. I asked if I could stay with her for a few days until my new apartment was ready. She was so excited. Kept telling me about how often she saw the rest of you and how you’d all be excited that I was coming home. Then suddenly there was this horrible noise. Metal and screeching and screaming and yelling. And I just kept screaming her name and she didn’t… she didn’t ever… and then the call cut out. They said her phone was crushed by the car at one point when it was rolling. That she was gone on impact.”

Tommy found himself crushing Kim to his chest in a hug. He knew that Kim had known first, that she had told everyone else. He hadn’t had any idea that she had been on the phone, that she had _heard_ the accident.

“I can’t stop hearing it,” Kim admitted, burying herself more firmly into Tommy’s arms. “It never goes away.”

Tommy had no idea how to help, only that he needed to find someway to do just that. Glancing around, he saw that there were a few open couches that were still apart of the bar area close by. He got up, handed Kim her drink while grabbing his, and led her over to one of the couches. They would be more comfortable, and he would be able to hold her much easier than if they continued to sit on the bar stools. They settled on the couch and Tommy didn’t give Kim the chance to feel unsure of where she stood with him, immediately drawing her into his side, his arm thrown around her shoulder. “Have you tried getting drunk yet?”

Kim laughed. “No, I haven’t. That was my intention in coming down here.”

“Mind company?”

“Not at all.”

“Well then,” Tommy said, lifting his glass and clinking it to Kim’s, “to Trini.”

“To Trini,” Kim echoed and they both swallowed the contents of their glasses. Not long after, the bartender came with refills.

Tommy told Kim about the last time he had talked to Trini, just two days before her death. He told her about how years ago, when Tommy had been racing, Trini had encouraged him to go to college even though everyone had sort of thought he was joking when he had first brought up the idea. However, since that call, they had a standing call every other Tuesday evening to chat.

Kim, in turn, told Tommy stories about Trini as a child, how they had met when Trini got in between a young Kimberly and several older boys bullying her on a neighborhood playground. She told Tommy about the times Trini had come to Florida to visit Kim, the shopping they did, the hours they spent on the beach, how Trini and come to surprise Kim for her 21st birthday and taken her out drinking, even though she had planned to stay home alone. After her sixth drink; she had switched at this point to gin and tonic; Kim quietly admitted that Trini had been the first to get in touch with her after the breakup. That Trini had been with Kim all through the Pan Globals, both as she won the silver in beam and when she had been rushed to the hospital with a broken leg and a concussion when she fell off the uneven bars.

At this point, Kim and Tommy’s sides were pressed together from her shoulder down through her leg. Her head was resting against his chest and Tommy, when not sipping his drink, would rest his chin or cheek against her hair. Tommy was feeling a tad overwarm, but his body was buzzing from both the alcohol and Kim’s proximity. She was warm and she smelled like she always had- her hair like strawberry and vanilla, and a slightly musky perfume he could smell just faintly.

Kim looked up at him. Her eyes were red-rimmed and her cheeks were tinged pink. Her hair she had throw into a messy bun before she came down and it now stuck out at odd intervals from the friction of her head against his chest. Tommy acted on instinct and his lips were suddenly on hers. And she didn’t resist- she deepened the kiss.

When Tommy had seen Kim possessed by Maligore years ago, he had realized the continued depths of his feelings for her. That he would do anything to have her back in his life. It had taken a while to actually act on that, but all the same he knew. He knew that if he had the chance to be her friend again, he would. If he had the chance to be in a relationship with her, he would accept immediately. If all he ever got was the chance to take her to bed one more time, and not a chance of anything else, he’d take that too.

And right here, holding her close, kissing her again, finally, Tommy realized that this was the chance that he had been praying for. He just hoped that he didn’t ruin any future relationship, platonic or otherwise, by what they were about to do.

Because, by the way Kim had turned into him, by the way she was kissing him, by the way she ran her hand across his chest, Tommy realized that she wanted this too.

It took less than three minutes to close his tab. They headed toward the elevator together, in silent agreement, and went to her room. It was closer, a shorter ride, which meant they could be together that much sooner.

They were kissing again as soon as they got off the elevator, stumbling along the hallway toward Kim’s room at the end of the hall. Kim took the key card out of her sweatshirt pocket and it took several tries before she was able to open the door.

Once inside, clothes were shed quickly. Kim had Tommy’s t-shirt off and thrown into the room before they even got in the door. Tommy had Kim’s sweatshirt off as soon as the door was closed behind them, her bra quickly following before he pressed her back against the door, pillaging her mouth with his tongue as he boosted her up. She wrapped her legs around his hips, and he pressed his groin into hers before pulling his mouth away.

“Are you sure?” He asked.

“Yes. Are you?” He kissed her again in reply, turning and carrying her blindly to the bed.

It was dark outside as it was 1AM, so no light was able to filter through the edges of the blackout curtains that had already been drawn by Kim before she had gone down to the bar. There weren’t any lights on either and while Tommy would have much preferred to see Kim, he wasn’t willing to let her go for even a split second to reach over and find a light.

The sex was unlike anything they had ever shared together. The times they had come together as teenagers, they had focused on kissing, on pleasuring the other, on feeling each and every sensation as they made love. This time, the kisses were sloppy, tongues fighting for dominance, bites down each other’s torsos, and all the time they flipped one another over, fighting to be on top. Then, almost without realizing it was happening, Tommy was inside Kim, feeling her muscles squeeze around him as she rode him, groaning out his name over and over.

It was all over quickly, much more quickly than Tommy would have hoped. But Tommy was at least happy that when they parted, both panting, Kim pressed her back to Tommy’s chest, pulling his hand over to rest on her breast, giving him permission to stay.

Tommy fell asleep with Kim pulled close, clutching at her breast, hoping that this was the start of something, not the end. Because if it was the end, he wished desperately that he had been able to see more than just the vague outline of her.

***

Tommy woke some time later. Looking over his shoulder to the window, he could see that there still did not appear to be light peaking around the edges of the curtains, still probably night then.

Kim stirred in his arms and sleepily asked what time it was. Tommy turned onto his back and groped at the nightstand next to him before he grabbed Kim’s leggings which were sitting on top of the alarm clock. 4:37AM. Kim made a non-committal hum of acknowledgement but stayed laying on her side with her back to him, the covers settled around their hips.

With the little amount of light thrown into the room by the alarm clock, Tommy could see something on Kim’s back, wrapping around her right side, that he had never seen any time he had seen her naked or topless before. It was an irregularly shaped dark mark, widest just left of her spine which thinned out quickly across her back and more gradually as it wrapped around her side. His curiosity had to be satisfied and he quickly made the decision to flip on the light, the bedside switch for which he could now also see with the help of the alarm clock light.

Kim made a noise of dislike and discomfort when the light came on. Tommy’s eyes quickly acclimated to the additional light and stared at the tattoo across Kim’s back.

It was a dragon, in shades of green, its feet faded into white. It’s front claws where talons, _Falcon talons_, instead of the traditional claw. It’s back feet, not far from her side, he recognized as some form of a cat’s, a striped cat’s. _Like a white tiger_. It was the dragon’s tail that was wrapping around Kim’s side.

Tommy found himself reaching out to touch the falcon talons on this hybrid dragon, realizing the symbolism immediately. Kim, suddenly, it seemed, remembering just who was sharing her bed and what it was that Tommy was seeing, tensed under his hand.

Tommy traced the dragon from head down to the falcon talons, tracing around the dragon’s belly to tiger feet before tracing around to the tail. He pulled her down onto her back and found that the dragon’s tail continued around Kim’s waist, then sharply up her ribs and ended just under her left breast. _Near her heart_, Tommy’s brain provided.

“You didn’t have this that last Christmas,” Tommy stated, “and I watched the games. You would have been able to see this with the cut of the leotards. You didn’t have it then either.” He looked to Kim for confirmation, not knowing that his eyes had flashed green several times. She nodded, confirming his suspicion that she had gotten the tattoo after the breakup.

His eyes turned a solid green and he growled out “_mine,_” his voice low as he positioned himself above her, trapping her between his body and the mattress. His teeth nipped harshly at the base of her neck before he sucked long and deep at the same spot while he buried himself in her to his hilt without warning or foreplay. (It would only be hours later, when he realized that he hadn’t even given her a moment to stop him and had been panicked that he had forced her into sex that Kim would remind him that evidenced by the ease with which he entered her, she and her body had accepted his advances enthusiastically.) His thrusts were deep and hard, his hips pistoning into Kim’s. Kim heels dug into his backside, urging him on.

This time was too quick as well. When Tommy came inside her, he collapsed atop of her, breathing far harder than he ever remembered doing after sex, his eyes fading back into the warm chocolate color that had always made Kim feel so safe and loved. He turned them onto their sides, holding her desperately close to him, afraid that he had ruined any chance he had with her with his possessive reaction. He was only a little reassured when Kim threw her top leg over his hip, pulling him closer.

“I got it right after the games, as soon as they took me off pain meds for my leg.” Kim admitted quietly into his chest. “I… there was never…” Kim sighed, closing her eyes. “The power withdraw was too much for me. I thought I’d be okay, since I gave them up voluntarily and all. But I guess something was wrong. I don’t know if it’s because Kat had stolen my coin originally or if I was more connected to the Ninjetti power than usual because of how we got them or because it was a part of me or something… I don’t know. I just… mentally, I couldn’t handle it. Not from the second my plane took off to bring me to Florida. I’d get these awful thoughts… thoughts that I should stop eating so I’d be lighter on the bars, thoughts that I should stop sleeping to get in more practice time, thoughts that I should cut myself to feel something again. But every time I’d get to the point where I was ready to do one of those things, you’d call. My heart still ached, I was still depressed, but you pulled me back.

“When I came home for Christmas and surprised you, I felt like myself for the first time since I got on that plane. Everything felt right again. I thought I could go back and be myself again. Do what I had to do and come home to you. But it was so much worse when I went back. I only let myself eat one small meal a day, I barely ever slept, let my schoolwork fall behind. I was just so depressed, and I had no idea what to do. I stopped responding to messages from all of the guys and even your messages and calls barely kept me from actually hurting myself. Then, four days before my birthday, I tried to kill myself.” Tommy gasped and pulled Kim as close as he could, even while she tried to pull herself away. She fought him weakly until he planted a kiss on her head, which seemed to take the fight out of her.

She continued. “It was evening, and I was in the locker room at the gym. I thought everyone was gone. I had put towels around me to collect the blood so it wouldn’t be so much for someone to have to clean up. But one of the girls forgot something. She found me less than a minute after I had cut myself. They rushed me to the hospital, saved me, healed me, gave me anti-depressants. I was in the hospital until the day before my birthday under suicide watch, but they released me on my birthday. I got back to the dorm and there were flowers from you. I called and I just couldn’t tell you what had happened; I was so embarrassed and ashamed. I really thought the pills would help. They did, or maybe I made myself think that they did, for about two weeks. Then it got really bad again and I realized that I was going to try to kill myself again. I didn’t want you to be the guy with the weak girlfriend who killed herself. I didn’t want you to be sad when I was gone. I figured that if I broke up with you first… so that’s what I did. I wrote the letter and sent it.

“One of the Rangers must have told Trini what happened almost immediately, my guess is Billy, because I had just finished packing and labeling boxes of all my stuff with who they should go to when the beam coach and Coach Schmidt burst into my room. They said a friend of mine had called and asked them to do a well-check on me because something was wrong. Since they knew about the suicide attempt, they had come running. I was put back in the hospital and two days later Trini was there. She transferred to a school down in Florida and stayed with me the entire time I was in training. She forced me to eat, dragged me to my therapist appointments, even slept in my dorm room half the time. I got better. I still wasn’t myself, but I wasn’t going to kill myself anymore. I got onto the Pan-Globals team. I competed and I was heartbroken when I got hurt and couldn’t compete anymore. Trini was there for all of it. By that point, the withdraw had worn off and I wasn’t in that negative headspace anymore, even with my anti-depressants being reduced. I got the tattoo when I was still in physical therapy. It made me feel stronger and like I was still connected to you.”

“Jason knew too.” Tommy guessed.

“Yeah, Trini told him after they released me from the hospital that second time.”

“He brought you home for that diving trip to try to cheer you up?”

“Yeah, we had a couple days off from practice and Coach insisted that I relax and not stay to catch up. Jason, I think, needed to see with his own eyes that I was really okay.”

They were silent for a few minutes, still clutching at each other, and that was when the reality and magnitude of what Kim had just admitted hit him full force. He had almost lost her. Not just as a friend or girlfriend. Not just as a soulmate. He had almost _lost her_ completely, gone forever, _twice._ The tears came hard, loud sobs shaking his body as he held onto Kim with every ounce of strength in his body. She tried to comfort him, but nothing outside of running his hands up and down her body, kissing her face, feeling that she was there, really, truly there did anything to calm his sudden terror. “Promise me,” he begged hoarsely an hour later, “promise me that you’ll never do that again.”

“I’m really okay now, Tommy. I’m only on a low dose of anti-depressants now, just as a precaution. I haven’t had a single thought like that in a long time.”

“No. Promise me. Promise me! I need to hear you say it. I need to know you won’t… I need to hear it, Beautiful. I need to know you won’t leave me here without you.”

“I promise, Handsome.”

The early morning sun was just peaking in around the edges of the curtain when Tommy and Kim joined together for the third time. Unlike the first two times that night, this time was fueled by neither lust nor possessiveness. This time they made love.

***

Adam had reserved a table for ten at a local brunch spot. So far, everyone had arrived save for two. While most of the Rangers were trying their best not to worry, Jason was on edge. “It was a rough day yesterday; maybe Kim is just getting a later start today,” one ranger suggested. “They’re only fifteen minutes late,” another said. “Didn’t you say that Kim flies back out to Florida today? Maybe they both wanted to check out of the hotel before they got here.”

As much as Jason wanted to believe everything was okay, he was worried. The others didn’t know about Kim’s suicide attempts, why she had broken up with Tommy, how integral to her recovery Trini had been. They had no idea how likely it was that Trini’s loss would send Kim to a place none of them could recover her from.

Just as panic was truly setting in and Jason was ready to jump up and run to Kim’s hotel to make sure she was actually alright, Tommy’s assurances yesterday be damned, that he saw Tommy’s car pull up in the parking lot outside, Kim in the passenger seat. Tommy helped Kim out of the car and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, smiling at her as they walked and talked to the door. When they arrived at the table, Tommy pulled out the seat to Jason’s right for Kim to sit before taking the only empty seat left between Billy and Aisha further down the table.

Kim was quiet the entire meal, but Jason did notice that she was not unresponsive like the day before and that her shoulders didn’t slump the way they had for the last several years. With the meal coming quickly to a close and knowing that Kim would soon be on a flight back to Florida, Jason decided that it was time to make sure she was actually okay.

“You were late getting here this morning.”

“Yeah, Tommy and I had a lot we needed to talk about.” Jason really looked at her and saw that she looked wane, something he had noticed the day before as well. She probably hadn’t been eating like she should since Trini’s death. Her eyes were red-rimmed, bloodshot, and puffy. She had been crying, quite a lot by the looks of it. She looked like she hadn’t slept much.

“I can’t imagine you had all that much time to talk this morning,” Jason probed.

She laughed a little, then cringed, rubbing at her temples then patting the scarf around her neck self-consciously, “no, I went down to the hotel bar last night and Tommy was already there. We talked. And drank.”

“And you told him…?” Jason tried to ignore the fact that Tommy probably let Kim get shitfaced drunk.

“Everything.”

“_All_ of it?”

“Everything.”

At this point, Zach had already taken care of the check for the table, and everyone was getting up to leave. Kim still had time before she had to get to the airport, Jason knew, so he suggested that they all go spend some time in the park across the way. He made a point of taking Kim’s hand and drawing her away from the others to continue their talk.

“You told him about the attempts?” He asked quietly once they were sitting on a bench watching the others throw around a basketball on a nearby court.

“What part of _everything_ was unclear to you?”

“What did he say?”

Kim sighed. “He was really upset. He was beside himself, honestly. He made me promise I’d never do it again.” Jason nodded. “I won’t, you know. The power withdraw was really bad and I’m not under its affect anymore. The thought of how you and Tommy would take it would stop me in my tracks if I got anywhere close to that now. Plus, after everything Tri did… I just couldn’t. I couldn’t insult her memory like that.”

“I was worried about that, you know, yesterday when you wouldn’t leave the cemetery and this morning when you were late to show up.”

“I’m sorry. Yesterday was just so hard. I-I guess I never told you, after everything with Trini. I’m moving back to California next month. Trini had been trying to get me to come home for years and to talk to Tommy about what really happened. Yesterday, I just remember looking at that hole in the ground wondering if I’d ever be able to look him in the eye without Trini there to encourage me.”

“That’s great Kim, you coming home, finally, I mean. But you did do it without Trini. You talked.”

“Yeah.” Jason noticed that Kim had reached up several times to play with the scarf around her neck, always rubbing against the same spot on the right side of her neck. It was warm, even for a scarf that light. He noticed too that it was the same scarf he had seen her wearing when she came in two days before and unlike the first outfit, the scarf did not match this outfit.

Jason thought for a second, looking between Tommy, on the basketball court, who kept glancing over to check on the two of them, and Kim, who looked toward Tommy and rubbed at her neck every time he mentioned her and Tommy _talking_. He considered for a minute the things he had learned. They had met at the bar last night and shared some drinks. They had obviously talked, considering that Tommy knew about the suicide attempts and was being so attentive to her, but that conversation would not take up so much of the night that it would explain why each looked so tired.

Unless…

Jason firmly grabbed Kim’s hand and pulled her hand down, her scarf pulling away from her neck with it.

“Oh my God. You guys are so fucking awful! I should have fucking guessed.” He exclaimed seeing the rather large hickey on her neck. This stopped the basketball game, and everyone looked toward Jason and Kim. Kim blushed. Tommy, with the others behind him, worriedly made his way over to the bench, coming to stand beside Kim, a hand on her shoulder.

“Jase?” He asked.

“You two are horny as teenagers! For fucks sake, guys. You’re both 23, not 16.”

Tommy glared at Jason, pulling Kim to him. She was red as a tomato but laughed all the same. Aisha squealed, launching herself at Kim hugging her tightly while most of the other guys also blushed and made a point of looking anywhere except their friends whose sex life was being put on blast. Except Zach who exclaimed, “finally. Now go get married and have Ranger babies. I want to see if they just pop out with powers or what,” which set the entire group laughing albeit awkwardly.

Not long after, it was time for Kim to head to the airport. Tommy told Rocky that he would take care of bringing her. Jason tagged along, sitting in the back seat and observing how Tommy held Kim’s hand almost the entire ride. How he spoke so gently to her. How they chatted so easily back and forth, catching each other up on their lives, on the job Kim had accepted in California, on the things that interested him in his classes and his students at the dojo he worked at part time to pay his rent. Jason hugged Kim in the parking lot when they got to the airport, deciding he would let Kim and Tommy have the last few minutes before she went through security to themselves.

When Tommy came back fifteen minutes later, he informed Jason that Kim got through security alright and that he should expect a call from her sometime tomorrow after he got home as well. The drive back to where they were meeting the others was quiet for several miles.

“Can I ask you a favor?” Tommy asked.

“Sure, even though you’re defiling my little sister.”

Tommy laughed. “You know we had been for years before, right?”

Jason rolled his eyes and made a gagging sound that made Tommy laugh. He released an overly dramatic sigh before acquiescing. “What is it you want?”

“I think I need help picking a ring.”

“Bro, you guys _just_ got back together.”

“I know, and I don’t intend to do it right when she gets back to California or anything. I just, I know us. I know, I’ve known for years that it was her or no one. We have some things to work through to get back to a place where we’re both comfortable in the relationship again, but I don’t think that’s going to take as long as you think it will. We’re stronger together. We understand each other. I just want to be ready when the time’s right.”

“I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but have you thought about your budget, what type band you want, do you know _anything_ about diamonds?”

Tommy laughed, “I guess I need to figure some of that out, but I’m not going to get a diamond. Kim seems partial to green lately… I’m thinking of getting an emerald.”


End file.
